A throwback...

Hey all! I'm sure you know that I LOVE Idol, and last night the show was great! There were three performances that I just loved, but mostly I was so excited to her Beatles music! My fave performance of the night was Brooke White's "Let it Be." She ROCKED!!!!
I really enjoyed Jason Castro's performance, mostly because it brought back memories of growing up! My Dad used to always have great music constantly playing while we were growing up! I hadn't heard "If I fall" forEVER, but was so happy to hear it again. I searched on Itunes for the Beatles version...I'm really a sucker for the original...but they have NOTHING from the Beatles. What is up with that? So, I found the original BLACK & WHITE music video on YouTube....check it out (but turn down the music on my blog music player first :)

I love this song! The harmonies are gorgeous and it's such a simple but sweet melody.
In other Stevens fam news....
Cameron has had a croupe-like cough since Sunday! We go to the doctor today, hopefully he is alright....:( The silver lining to his being sick, now don't judge me, is that he is more cuddly!! For any of you who don't know, Cameron is usually 100% of the time ANTI-cuddly! So I have just been eating it up.
Drew has been serving up extra servings of cute lately. Last night he woke up crying at about 11pm because his leg was hurting. TJ and I were watching Idol, so we brought him downstairs and after a while he said.."Mommy, my leg doesn't hurt any more, it's all better now." So I said, "Does it feel better because you got to come down and be with Mommy and Daddy?" Drew: "Yeeeahhh." So funny! Then I gave him some tylenol and massaged his leg thinking it was just sore from jumping around ALL day long, and he said ..."Mommy, you take good care of me....you are like a Doctor Lady.....I love you." I just love that little boy!
Now I almost don't want to write this because I'm worried I'll jinx ourselves...but it seems to be that we found someone who wants to rent our house in Vegas. Not just rent, but Lease to Own! I know that with Lease to Own option, they have to pay more per month....we'll see. Right now, every little bit helps...so we're happy with whatever we can get! And it is official! The owners of our current home are putting in a fence!!!! Installation starts sometime next week!!!!! I'm so excited I can barely stand it. Wa hooo!! My fence will only serve as a child containment device, unlike the Longnecker's and the Jenkin's fence which will serve as not only a child containment device but a horse repellent device! :)
Hope you all have a great day!

A small pat on the back :)

I woke up this morning and checked my email first thing. Usually there is nothing too exciting in there. But today, I recieved an email from my fav scrapbooking site W&W...asking if they could spotlight my pages in this weeks spotlight!!!!!!!! I am seriously so flattered. There are sooooo many other talented ladies out there! WOW! Anywho, if you want to check it out, just click HERE.

Creative Juices!

My creative juices have really been flowing lately (scrapbookily-I know that's not a word-speaking). I LLLLURVE IT! Here is the product of those juices ;) For credits, click on the link below each image.

So in Love

Drew + Savanna

Cam's Sweet Scowl

Funny Faces
So, I don't know if any of you have heard the song "The Way I Are" by Timbaland, (Such a fun song!) but if you have, you probably want to groove anytime that you hear like Drew, Cam and I do. Drew just LOVES this song. He calls it his favorite song and dances to it whenever I turn it on. Well, he noticed the words a few days ago. At the end it goes like this: "Baby girl....(some other words I don't know) baby girl...etc. It does this a few times. So, for the past few days, Drew has been walking around the house singing..."Baby Girl..." Hmmmm....I know, I know: Mother of the year.
Some good news: We found out yesterday that the people who own our house (yes, we're renting 'til our house in Vegas sells) are going to put in a concrete slab (perfect to hold our Grill, and a fence up in the next couple of months. TJ and I are soooo excited! I am especially excited, because I am dying to cook on the grill again (in Vegas I could grill year round) and it will be so nice to let the kids play outside without worrying that they will wander! Wooo hoo!

if I were 16......

I'd have one serious crush on David Archuleta from American Idol. So far, he is my favorite contestant (and not because he's the kid from Utah;) He sang Imagine by John Lennon (a personal favorite) and BLEW me away! I went to go buy his performance on itunes this morning and it won't be available until friday....FRIDAY!!! I am so not a patient person. Seriously though, I want to listen to it sooo bad! It helps that he's easy on the eyes. Don't worry though, I do know that he is 11 years my junior....For anyone who didn't watch idol last night or who don't watch (?) it at all, I found his Performance on YouTube. Just turn down the volume on my blogs music player so you can hear it!

Now, for SOME funny stories. Last thursday, my husband went to a Stake music function and was asked to give the opening prayer. For those of you who know TJ, I understand how nervous you are right now. So anyway, he gets up to pray and says..."We're thankful for this Sabbath day,....oh...wait, it's not the Sabbath day, what am I thinking." OUT LOUD!!! He continued on with the rest of the prayer, even though the people in the room were rolling on the floor, and then finished with a bright red face. So funny! Then, on Sunday, I had to run home during the second hour of church and left the kids with TJ. Cameron happened to poo while I was gone and poor TJ was the one to find out that NO diapers or wipes were packed in the diaper bag that day. The really sad part though, is that he didn't find this out until he had already taken Cam's diaper off and had used it to scrape most of the poo off of Cams butt. He totally panicked! He tried to put the diaper back on, but because he'd used it to wipe poo, it was too messy. I'm sure you can ONLY imagine! So, he picked up a half-naked Cameron and went out into the hall and started asking people if they knew where the bathroom was. Picture it, if you can: TJ, frantically running around the church holding Cameron at arms length, only Cam is half naked with poo still on his butt! He finally found the bathroom and had to lay Cameron over two sinks and was madly pumping the paper towel dispenser and trying to wash the off the mess. Only, there was a guy in there who needed to wash his hands. At this point we are the last ward in the building and this guy has to be in our ward. What a FREAK he must think TJ is! They guy ended up leaving, and tj went back to the original changing station and had to put Cams clothes back on but with no diaper! This is when I showed up. He then proceeded to tell me the entire story, VERY LOUDLY, in the hall at church. I can't remember the last time that I laughed that hard!!!

Balance

At the beginning of this year, I found the coolest blog-Ali Edwards' blog! Her site is filled with inspiration for the ultimate crafter, thinker, life-lover and more. She asked for all that were interested to choose a word that would best describe their goals and desires for the following year-sort of a New Year's resolution. The word that I chose was balance. I feel, especially after having moved to Utah, that I have so many things in this life that I want to accomplish. I have always had lots of hobbies and interests, but was never able to do "everything." I have since found my magical formula for Balance! I've learned bunches about myself recently and know for a fact that I am naturally a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, spastic, impulsive type. I have learned through raising my children (so far, in no way do I think that I know it all...) that scheduling and guidelines are key...everybody needs them. Especially ME!!! I have come up with a schedule (that's not the magical formula yet) that allows me to accomplish so much more. How do I do this you ask....? Well, it's really easy! I do a little of something everyday. I don't do EVERYTHING everyday, but that is where the schedule comes in! I allow myself to indulge in my hobbies and learn, but I alternate. Photography is on one day, scrap-booking is on the next...etc. I have found myself to be SO much happier! Plus, I am MAKING time for more important things like FHE, time with my sweetie, time with my kids, exercise (I know, don't faint!). I am also weeding out the things that waste time, things that take up the time I would really rather use doing the stuff I want to do!
All of this really came to a head when I was in Vegas supporting my sis-in-law Jill in the Miss America Pageant. She said something that really has made an impact on me. All she said was..."...move people to action." To me it was so profound! That is what I needed, to act upon all the things I want and usually only talk about (thanks Jill)! I really am so excited about these new found realizations and my abilities to ACCOMPLISH! I know, You all are probably thinking, "bless her heart...." I know I'm a geek, but I'm kinda ok with it right now :)! So, I know I'm not the only person to have "ah-ha" light bulb moments...What kind of things have moved you guys to action? What kind of things do you do to get yourself going, to get things done, to motivate yourself?

A few new finds.....

Happy Saturday Everybody!

I've been on the computer off and on all morning and have found some cool new things! First, Weeds and Wildflowers just opened their Weed Patch Forum today and are starting a whole new schedule for fun things... Plus, if you sign up for their newsletter, you get this cute mini kit for free in their shop (you get a code in the newsletter).

Next, I found this AWESOME new website for clothes, accessories, and baby clothes! It is called the Shabby Apple and you can check it out here

Here is another layout for yet another challenge!! Credits: Weeds and Wildflowers: Shabby Fall Garden, Cherishing Every Moment and Cherishing Alpha, Believing in You; and Date Bits 2 Freebie from Misty Cato.

Here is a fun Valentine I made for one of Drew's best friends Savanna. (Credits: WW Pieces of my Heart, Warming the Heart, Rhonna Farrar, Shabby Princess journaling labels, p.s. I love you font.) They are so stinkin' cute when they play together, they are the ultimate toddler married couple. They fight like crazy, but then the next second they are laughing hysterically!
Here is a few funny stories from our little Drew this week:
On Saturday night, we put Drew to bed at about 8pm. At around 10:30, TJ and I decided to go to bed, so we checked on Drew. He was awake! So TJ asked him, "Drew why are you still awake?" and Drew responded, "Daddy, I am just thinking, like pooh bear thinks Daddy, see pooh bear thinks like this (then he tapped his little head with his index finger and said think, think, think, think)" So funny! I just love that little boy, he always keeps us on our toes. His innocence combined with his cute little voice just melts my little heart. Two days later...I was getting Drew ready for bed and I told him to go to the bathroom, he yelled back at me that there was something in the toilet, so he couldn't go. I thought that something just didn't get flushed, but, when I went in there, I saw this:

It took me 10 more minutes to get out of him who put these things in the toilet...he INSISTED that it was Cameron, until I pointed out to him that Cam can't open the bathroom door or lift the lid by himself and then he said, "Oh, mommy, maybe I did...I'm so sorry." His sweet little face with those big blue eyes staring up at me helped me to forgive him ;)


The rest of my pictures illustrate and further establish just how cute I think my kids are and also how much I love them! They are the loves of my life! I love the pictures of lil' Drew playing with his cars...he just loves to line up his cars and drive them around on the couch or on his little city carpet. And lastly, (but not least), my sweet cam, I love this picture of him! It looks like he is smiling with his eyes! I love my family!